Food product with opposite phase-shifted corrugations of the same frequency and amplitude and method and apparatus of manufacture

ABSTRACT

Food product pieces are formed with corrugations on opposite sides thereof, wherein the corrugations are substantially parallel and of substantially equal frequency and amplitude, and wherein the corrugations on one side are phase-shifted with respect to the corrugations on the opposite side by about 1/4 of the pitch distance of the corrugations. As a result, a food product piece with unique texture, flavor and appearance is produced after later cooking processes.

This is a division of application Ser. No. 519,986, filed Aug. 3, 1983,U.S. Pat. No. 4,511,586.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to sliced food products which havecorrugations on opposite surfaces and methods and apparatus ofmanufacturing such sliced products.

2. Description of the Background Art

Potato chips, such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,769,715 and having awavy or corrugated configuration, are commercially manufactured andsold. The corrugated potato product which has met with substantialcommercial success has parallel corrugations on the opposite surfacesthereof which are "in-phase", i.e., the ridges on one side directlyoverlie valleys on the opposite side so that the thickness of the chipis substantially uniform throughout the entire chip. Patent 2,769,715also discloses a sliced corrugated potato product wherein thecorrugation on opposite sides are "out-of-phase", i.e., the ridges onone side directly overlie the ridges on the other side, and a slicedcorrugated potato product wherein the corrugations on one side arecrisscrossed relative to the corrugations on the opposite side. Suchout-of-phase and crisscrossed corrugated potato products haveperiodically varying thicknesses throughout which when subjected to acooking process, such as frying, cook at different rates producingunique texture and flavor different from the products of uniformthickness. The out-of-phase corrugated product has substantialweaknesses at the mating opposing valleys of the product which resultsin undue breaking and fragmentation of the product during manufacture,packaging and handling. The crisscross corrugated product hassubstantially greater strength; however, existing processes andapparatus for manufacturing such crisscross corrugated product have oneor more deficiencies, such as requiring excessive maintenance, beingsubstantially more costly, having higher scrap losses, and restricted toonly a small range of potato size, when compared to non-corrugated andin-phase corrugated potato products. Thus, commercialization of theout-of-phase and crisscross corrugated potato product has been limited.

U.S. patent application Ser. No. 447,643, filed Dec. 7, 1982, assignedto the assignee of this invention, discloses a food product withopposite parallel corrugations of different frequencies. The differentfrequencies of the corrugations provide the food product with varyingthicknesses.

There thus remains a need in the art for an inexpensively producedcorrugated food product with varying thicknesses which possesses uniqueflavor and texture characteristics after cooking.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is summarized in the formation of parallelcorrugations of equal frequency and amplitude on opposite surfaces of afood product wherein the corrugations on one surface are phase-shiftedrelative to the corrugations on the opposite surface by about 1/4 thepitch distance of the corrugations. The food product may be formed bycuts made by cutting slices from the body using offset alternate bladeswith flutes of equal frequency and amplitude or by other means, such asextrusion, sheeting, etc.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a potato slice formed in accordance withthe invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-section of a broken away portion of the potato sliceof FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a horizontal section view of an apparatus for maufacturingpotato slices in accordance with the invention.

FIG. 4 is a side view of the apparatus shown in FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a cutting blade removed from theapparatus of FIG. 3 or FIG. 4.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, a food product, such as a potato sliceindicated generally at 10, manufactured in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention includes corrugations 12 on theupper side thereof and corrugations 14 on the lower side thereof. Thecorrugations 12 and 14 are substantially parallel to each other, havesubstantially the same frequency and amplitude, and are offset andphase-shifted relative to each other by a distance 16 of aboutone-fourth the pitch distance 18 (distances indicated by arrowed lines).The potato slices 10 have elongated areas 20 of substantially greaterthickness interspersed with elongated areas 22 of lesser thickness. Whensliced potato products 10 are cooked or fried in a conventional frier,they have a texture and flavor substantially similar to prior artcross-cut corrugated potato products.

In preferred embodiments for the manufacture of potato slices 10, andwith reference to FIG. 3, washed whole potatoes 24, which may be peeledor unpeeled, are fed onto a horizontal base 26 of a rotating impeller ina commercially available potato slicer. The impeller includes verticalvanes 28 which direct the potatoes 24 radially outward and against aninterior cylindrical vertical surface formed by eight spaced slicingcastings (shoes) 30 and 32. As shown in FIG. 4, the castings 30 and 32are supported in a circular configuration by support ring 34. Thecutting blades 36 are mounted by knife holders 38 and knife clamps 40 onleading vertical edges of corresponding alternate castings 30 and 32.Gate inserts 42 spaced from the cutting blades define therewith verticalslots through which the slices 10 are discharged as they are being cut.

As shown in FIG. 5, the cutting blades 36 are fluted. The flutes of allcutting blades 36 all have the same frequency and amplitude. The holders38 and clamps 40 have corresponding grooves and ridges (not shown) forsupporting the blade 36, with the sharpened cutting edges 44 of theblades 36 extending a selected distance into the interior of the slicingbowl for cutting slices from the potatoes 24 as the potatoes are movedby the impeller vanes 28 along the interior cylindrical surface.

As shown in FIG. 4, shims 46 offset every other casting 30 relative tothe alternate castings 32 by a distance corresponding to 1/4 of theflute pitch distance 48. Conveniently, the potato slicer is aconventional potato slicer, such as Model CC manufactured by UrschelLaboratories, Inc. of Valparaiso, Ind., modified by the insertion ofshims 46 to vertically offset alternate castings 30 and 32 by an amountcorresponding to 1/4 of the flute pitch distance 48 of the cuttingblades 36. The potato slices 10 are then subjected to conventionalprocessing, including frying in a deep fat frier to form the potatochips.

Preferably, the corrugations 12 and 14 formed in the potato slices 10,prior to cooking, have an amplitude or a peak-to-valley dimension asillustrated by the arrowed line 50 in FIG. 2 within the range of fromabout 0.07 inch to about 0.1 inch, with about 0.09 inch beingparticularly preferred. The pitch distance 18 is preferably within therange of from about 0.12 inch to about 0.20 inch, with a pitch distance18 of about 0.175 inch being particularly preferred. The thickness ofthe web portion 23, defined as the minimum thickness measured verticallybetween valleys, is preferably within the range of from about 0.01 inchto about 0.03 inch.

The potato slices 10 which have corrugations 12 on one surface which arephase shifted by about 1/4 of the pitch distance 18, relative toparallel corrugations 14 on the opposite surface of the slice, arereadily formed in conventional slicing apparatus wherein only everyother casting 30 has been offset by shims 46. Other means besides shimscan be employed, e.g., milling depressions in the support ring, ormanufacturing "A" and "B" shoes which are of the same height but thecorrugations are cast such that A and B peaks are offset one-fourth thepitch distance when mounted adjacent to each other on the support ring34. This type of apparatus has demonstrated substantially greaterreliability and higher through-put without requiring any prior sizing ofthe potatoes compared to prior art apparatus, including mechanisms forrotating the potatoes during successive cuts to produce crisscrosscorrugated potato slices.

While the above-described embodiment is particularly described withrespect to slices of raw potatoes, the present invention is alsoapplicable to other sliced products, including slices of othervegetables, such as carrots, slices of fruit, such as apples, or slicesof other food materials, such as doughs, meat, etc. Additionally, thephase-shifted corrugations can be formed by techniques other than byslicing, for example, by extruding or impressing doughs, meat patties,etc. Unique texture and flavor properties are imparted by differentialcooking times and the periodically varying thicknesses of the foodproduct piece.

In a method of forming a food product from a dough material, the doughmaterial is formed into ribbon or sheet which has corrugations on itsupper and lower surfaces which are phase-shifted as described above. Thedough is formed in a conventional manner from cereals, vegetables, andother materials. The corrugations are formed either by extruding thedough through a slot-like orifice having opposite fluted edges which areoffset by 1/4 of the distance of the flute pitch or by impressing thecorrugations on a dough sheet formed from the dough, such as by passingthe dough through a pair of sheeter rolls having offset corrugations andbeing spaced to produce the corrugated sheet or ribbon. The corrugatedsheet or ribbon can be cooked, such as by frying, prior to being dividedinto product pieces, or the corrugated sheet or ribbon can be firstdivided into pieces which are then cooked or fried.

Since many modifications, variations and changes in detail may be madeto the described embodiment, it is intended that all matter in theforegoing description and shown in the accompanying drawings beinterpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus for producing slices of a foodmaterial comprising:(a) first and second fluted cutting blades havingsubstantially parallel flutes of substantially identical frequency andamplitude, wherein the flutes of said first cutting blade are offsetrelative to the flutes of said second cutting blade by a distancesubstantially equal to 1/4 the pitch distance of said flutes; (b) meanssupporting said first and second cutting blades in spaced relationshipand defining a cutting path for the food material; and (c) means formoving the food material in the cutting path to form cuts in the foodmaterial by the first and second cutting blades to form a slice of foodmaterial having corrugations on opposite surfaces which are phaseshifted by about 1/4th the pitch distance of said corrugations.
 2. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein the first and second cutting blades aresupported serially along the cutting path.
 3. The apparatus of claim 2,wherein the supporting means includes a plurality of vertical membersarranged in a circular array defining a circular cutting path on theinterior surface of the array, and the moving means includes an impellerwith a horizontal table and vertical vanes for moving the food materialfrom the circular cutting path.
 4. The apparatus of claim 3, whereinsaid flutes have a pitch within the range of from about 0.12 inch toabout 0.20 inch, an amplitude within the range of from about 0.07 inchto about 0.1 inch, and the cutting blades are spaced in the cutting pathto form a slice of food material having a web thickness within the rangeof from about 0.01 inch to about 0.03 inch.